Analyzing Animal Societies
¥288.41
Animals lead rich social lives. They care for one another, compete for resources, and mate. Within a society, social relationships may be simple or complex and usually vary considerably, both between different groups of individuals and over time. These social systems are fundamental to biological organization, and animal societies are central to studies of behavioral and evolutionary biology.?But how do we study animal societies How do we take observations of animals fighting, grooming, or forming groups and produce a realistic de*ion or model of their societies?Analyzing AnimalSocieties presents a conceptual framework for analyzing social behavior and demonstrates how to put this framework into practice by collecting suitable data on the interactions and associations of individuals so that relationships can be described, and, from these, models can be derived.In addition to presenting the tools, Hal Whitehead illustrates their applicability using a wide range of real data on a variety of animal species-from bats and chimps to dolphins and birds. The techniques that Whitehead describes will be profitably adopted by scientists working with primates, cetaceans, birds, and ungulates, but the tools can be used to study societies of invertebrates, amphibians, and even humans.?Analyzing AnimalSocieties will become a standard reference for those studying vertebrate social behavior and will give to these studies the kind of quality standard already in use in other areas of the life sciences.
Science in the Age of Computer Simulation
¥247.21
Computer simulation was first pioneered as a scientific tool in meteorology and nuclear physics in the period following World War II, but it has grown rapidly to become indispensible in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including astrophysics, high-energy physics, climate science, engineering, ecology, and economics. Digital computer simulation helps study phenomena of great complexity, but how much do we know about the limits and possibilities of this new scientific practiceHow do simulations compare to traditional experimentsAnd are they reliableEric Winsberg seeks to answer these questions in Science in the Age of Computer Simulation.Scrutinizing these issue with a philosophical lens, Winsberg explores the impact of simulation on such issues as the nature of scientific evidence; the role of values in science; the nature and role of fictions in science; and the relationship between simulation and experiment, theories and data, and theories at different levels of de*ion. Science in the Age of Computer Simulation will transform many of the core issues in philosophy of science, as well as our basic understanding of the role of the digital computer in the sciences.
Making Marie Curie
¥288.41
In many ways, Marie Curie represents modern science. Her considerable lifetime achievements-the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, the only woman to be awarded the Prize in two fields, and the only person to be awarded Nobel Prizes in multiple sciences-are studied by schoolchildren across the world. When, in 2009, the New Scientist carried out a poll for the "e;Most Inspirational Female Scientist of All Time,"e; the result was a foregone conclusion: Marie Curie trounced her closest runner-up, Rosalind Franklin, winning double the number of Franklin's votes. She is a role model to women embarking on a career in science, the pride of two nations-Poland and France-and, not least of all, a European Union brand for excellence in science.Making Marie Curie explores what went into the creation of this icon of science. It is not a traditional biography, or one that attempts to uncover the "e;real"e; Marie Curie. Rather, Eva Hemmungs Wirtn, by tracing a career that spans two centuries and a world war, provides an innovative and historically grounded account of how modern science emerges in tandem with celebrity culture under the influence of intellectual property in a dawning age of information. She explores the emergence of the Curie persona, the information culture of the period that shaped its development, and the strategies Curie used to manage and exploit her intellectual property. How did one create and maintain for oneself the persona of scientist at the beginning of the twentieth centuryWhat special conditions bore upon scientific women, and on married women in particularHow was French identity claimed, established, and subvertedHow, and with what consequences, was a scientific reputation secured?In its exploration of these questions and many more, Making Marie Curie provides a composite picture not only of the making of Marie Curie, but the making of modern science itself.
Victorian Popularizers of Science
¥353.16
The ideas of Charles Darwin and his fellow Victorian scientists have had an abiding effect on the modern world. But at the time The Origin of Species was published in 1859, the British public looked not to practicing scientists but to a growing group of professional writers and journalists to interpret the larger meaning of scientific theories in terms they could understand and in ways they could appreciate. Victorian Popularizers of Science focuses on this important group of men and women who wrote about science for a general audience in the second half of the nineteenth century.Bernard Lightman examines more than thirty of the most prolific, influential, and interesting popularizers of the day, investigating the dramatic lecturing techniques, vivid illustrations, and accessible literary styles they used to communicate with their audience. By focusing on a forgotten coterie of science writers, their publishers, and their public, Lightman offers new insights into the role of women in scientific inquiry, the market for scientific knowledge, tensions between religion and science, and the complexities of scientific authority in nineteenth-century Britain.
Truth Machine
¥229.55
DNA profiling-commonly known as DNA fingerprinting-is often heralded as unassailable criminal evidence, a veritable "e;truth machine"e; that can overturn convictions based on eyewitness testimony, confessions, and other forms of forensic evidence. But DNA evidence is far from infallible. Truth Machine traces the controversial history of DNA fingerprinting by looking at court cases in the United States and United Kingdom beginning in the mid-1980s, when the practice was invented, and continuing until the present. Ultimately, Truth Machine presents compelling evidence of the obstacles and opportunities at the intersection of science, technology, sociology, and law.
Cancer Companion
¥147.15
Cancer. It's the diagnosis no one wants to hear. Unfortunately though, these days most of us have known or will know someone who receives it. But what's nextWith the diagnosis comes not only fear and uncertainty, but numerous questions, and a lot of unsolicited advice. With A Cancer Companion, esteemed oncologist Ranjana Srivastava is here to help, bringing both experience and honesty to guide cancer patients and their families through this labyrinth of questions and treatments.With candor and compassion, Srivastava provides an approachable and authoritative reference. She begins with the big questions, like what cancer actually is, and she moves on to offer very practical advice on how to find an oncologist, what to expect during and after treatments, and how to manage pain, diet, and exercise. She discusses in detail the different therapies for cancers and why some cancers are inoperable, and she skillfully addresses the emotional toll of the disease. She speaks clearly and directly to cancer patients, caretakers, and their loved ones, offering straightforward information and insight, something that many oncologists can't always convey in the office.Equipping readers with the knowledge to make informed decisions at every step of the way, A Cancer Companion is an indispensable guide by a physician who cares to educate patients as much as she does to treat them.
The Music of the Primes: Why an unsolved problem in mathematics matters (Text On
¥73.58
The paperback of the critically-acclaimed popular science book by a writer who is fast becoming a celebrity mathematician. Prime numbers are the very atoms of arithmetic. They also embody one of the most tantalising enigmas in the pursuit of human knowledge. How can one predict when the next prime number will occur? Is there a formula which could generate primes? These apparently simple questions have confounded mathematicians ever since the Ancient Greeks. In 1859, the brilliant German mathematician Bernard Riemann put forward an idea which finally seemed to reveal a magical harmony at work in the numerical landscape. The promise that these eternal, unchanging numbers would finally reveal their secret thrilled mathematicians around the world. Yet Riemann, a hypochondriac and a troubled perfectionist, never publicly provided a proof for his hypothesis and his housekeeper burnt all his personal papers on his death. Whoever cracks Riemann's hypothesis will go down in history, for it has implications far beyond mathematics. In business, it is the lynchpin for security and e-commerce. In science, it has critical ramifications in Quantum Mechanics, Chaos Theory, and the future of computing. Pioneers in each of these fields are racing to crack the code and a prize of $1 million has been offered to the winner. As yet, it remains unsolved. In this breathtaking book, mathematician Marcus du Sautoy tells the story of the eccentric and brilliant men who have struggled to solve one of the biggest mysteries in science. It is a story of strange journeys, last-minute escapes from death and the unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Above all, it is a moving and awe-inspiring evocation of the mathematician's world and the beauties and mysteries it contains.
Gemstones (Collins Gem)
¥38.36
Gemstones have been a source of delight and fascination for many thousands of years. This revised edition explores the nature of gems, their beauty, rarity and durability, and the mineral properties that govern these qualities. It describes the most popular gemstones in detail and looks at how gem minerals form, where they are found and mined, and how they are identified. It includes information about the popular most popular and the lesser known stones, and describes how to distinguish the real from the fake.
Hard, Soft and Wet
¥61.51
Who are the digital generation? They are the millions of youngsters who live with, and love, the technology with which they are growing up. This is their story. Tomorrow belongs to them. ‘This is the book which opens up the electronic frontier to those still left out in the cold, the one McLuhan would have written were he to be still surfing the Nineties’ Arena. ‘At once a romance, a cultural commentary, and a piece of travel writing which adds the virtual world to its itinerary as though it were a new place on the map. ‘ Sadie Plant, The Times Not another book about youth culture, nor cyberpunks, hackers and VR; not a computing manual; not the history of technology; but a book about the first generation of people to take the information age for granted. A personal portrait of the Wired Generation, exploring the dreams, ambitions, aesthetics and assumptions of all the kids growing up digital, worldwide. In these days of video games, PCs, multimedia and personal stereos, it’s all too easy for the sensitive kids to disappear into worlds of their own, and it happens so quickly — one birthday they’re chirpy and sociable, the next they stay home to watch Robocop for the thirty-seventh time or play Mortal Kombat yet again.
The Glass Universe
¥73.58
‘A biographical orrery – intricate, complex and fascinating’ The Observer ‘A peerless intellectual biography. The Glass Universe shines and twinkles as brightly as the stars themselves’ The Economist #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel returns with a captivating, little-known true story of women in science Before they even had the right to vote, a group of remarkable women were employed by Harvard College Observatory as ‘Human Computers’ to interpret the observations made via telescope by their male counterparts each night. The author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter and The Planets shines light on the hidden history of these extraordinary women who changed the burgeoning field of astronomy and our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.
The Times How to Crack Cryptic Crosswords
¥58.86
Expert crossword solver and setter, Tim Moorey, seeks to dispel the myth that cryptic crosswords are the preserve of the elite. In this easy guide, he demonstrates that anyone who enjoys words and word play can learn to solve a cryptic crossword clue. With clear pictorially presented explanations for many clues, you can revel in the deep satisfaction that comes from finishing cryptic crossword puzzles. Designed to apply to the solving of any cryptic crossword, this book develops and expands Tim’s first book, How to Master The Times Crossword, and is designed to guide the cryptic crossword beginner to an enriched solving experience. ? Contains 15 new practice puzzles from 15 different newspaper and magazine sources. ? Many new hints and tips to help every solver ? Greatly expanded lists e.g. of those all-important abbreviations you should know ? A completely new demonstration of how one solver tackles a typical daily cryptic ? Up-to-date sections on the latest help available online eg smartphone and tablet apps ? In-depth and clear explanations of every clue and puzzle answer ? Previously published as ‘How To Master The Times Crossword: The Times Cryptic Crossword Demystified’. This book is a revised and updated version.
The Tolkien Quiz Book
¥45.22
A revised and expanded reissue containing over 1,200 brain-teasing questions on the legendary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, published to coincide with the release of the third and final The Lord of The Rings movie. How many Hobbits joined the Fellowship of the Ring? What colour is the Orcs’ skin? Why did Gandalf have difficulty in opening the West-door of Khazad-dum? Who betrayed Berien and Luthien to Thingol? What was Farmer Giles’ full name? The worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, from the saga of Middle-earth to a brief visit to Wootton Major, are so rich and varied that they inspire legions of followers of different ages. This peerless revised and expanded quiz book offers over 1,200 questions and answers, including easy starter questions and more difficult tie-breakers, to test the range and depth of your knowledge. And whereas every right answer will confirm your mastery over your subject, every wrong answer will be a learning experience all of its own!
Ruled by Race
¥263.50
From the Civil War to Reconstruction, the Redeemer period, Jim Crow, and the modern civil rights era to the present, Ruled by Race describes the ways that race has been at the center of much of the state's formation and image since its founding. Grif Stockley uses the work of published and unpublished historians and exhaustive primary source materials along with stories from authors as diverse as Maya Angelou and E. Lynn Harris to bring to life the voices of those who have both studied and lived the racial experience in Arkansas.
Scrabble Trickster (Collins Little Books)
¥39.53
If you’re gonna break the rules, break ‘em good.
Low Blood Sugar
¥82.01
A comprehensive and accessible handbook providing vital information for sufferers of low blood sugar, this is an ideal reference guide and essential first step for those who want to understand and treat their symptoms naturally. Includes 60 delicious recipes to prove that sufferers don’t have to miss out! An increasing number of people are being diagnosed with low blood sugar due to today’s high-pressure lifestyles and the predominance of over-processed foods in our diet- and the number of sufferers is set to rise. This is an essential up-to-date reference guide to low blood sugar, detailing everything that sufferers need to know about their condition and how to treat it. A complete guide to how to treat low blood sugar, this book reviews all the latest research on subjects such as insulin resistance, syndrome X and the role of the adrenal and thyroid hormones, as well as providing information about all the complementary and orthodox treatments available. The book explains what low blood sugar is and what causes it, and lists the symptoms of the condition making it easy to spot. The easy-to-follow nutritional plan is accompanied by 60 delicious recipes that prove sufferers can still enjoy their food while keeping low blood sugar under control. A comprehensive resources section reviews appropriate supplements, websites and suppliers. Ideal for anyone who wants to prevent low blood sugar, as well as for anyone already suffering from this condition.
What Really Works:The Insider’s Guide to Complementary Health
¥72.99
Consumer guide to what’s best in complementary health, from products to therapies. Susan Clark is the UK’s most trusted consumer watchdog. For all those people who are forever cutting out snippets from newspapers and magazines and for those who are confused by just how much information on supplements and therapies is thrown at them in the media, this book will be a godsend. This wide ranging guide covers What Really Works across the entire mind, body, spirit area: ? Part 1 contains 5 chapters which are the building blocks for optimum health 1) Food: what to eat and when to eat it 2) Air: how to breathe and effects of pollution 3) Water: how much we need and why what comes out of our taps could be harmful 4) Sunlight – its benefits 5) Exercise ? Part 2: is a top to toe look at natural remedies for 80 everyday complaints ? Part 3: called Hands-on, lists 30 of the best complementary therapies ? Part 4: called Soulworks looks at spiritual-based therapies and practices – from shamanism to meditation ? Part 5 is a Time Out guide to spas, retreats, therapists – everything from yoga holidays to flotation tanks ? The biggest resources section of any book on the market today makes this book invaluable to the public In each case the book is thoroughly referenced to show you where to go, what brand to choose, which practitioner is best internationally.
The Quest for Mars: NASA scientists and Their Search for Life Beyond Earth (Text
¥72.99
This edition does not include illustrations. Is there life on Mars? And if not, why not? These questions have gripped mankind throughout the twentieth century. In the shadow of the new millennium, The Quest for Mars seeks the definitive answers from the dedicated NASA scientists participating in the race to discover life on the Red Planet. ‘Ever since I was a small child, I’ve believed there was life out there. When I look at the magnitude of the universe, with its billions of stars, I believe that if life developed here on Earth, it must have developed elsewhere. We simply can’t be unique. I really don’t think we’re the most intelligent life forms in the universe, but that’s just my gut feeling’, Dr Claire Parkinson, NASA scientist. Of all the planets, Mars has exerted the most powerful allure over the human intellect and imagination. Generations of astronomers have expected to find clues to the origin and destiny of Earth and its inhabitants concealed amid the red storms sweeping across the surface of Mars. Today, the mystique of Mars is even greater. Public interest in the Mars mission is sky-high; the exploits of the tiny Mars Rover ‘Sojourner’ in the summer of 1997 excited the greatest curiosity in a space mission in a generation. In The Quest for Mars Laurence Bergreen has unrestricted access to a team of NASA employees – engineers, geologists and other scientists – who are consumed by the search for proof of life on Mars. As one formidable obstacle after another attempts to scupper their quest for a deeper understanding of life on Mars and throughout the Solar System, the narrative takes us step by step through the exhilaration and the despondency of their extraordinary adventure. Nothing is off limits in this unique, behind-the-scenes story of space exploration.
Why Us?: How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (Text Only)
¥73.58
The imperative to 'know thyself' is both fundamental and profoundly elusive – for how can we ever truly comprehend the drama and complexity of the human experience? In ‘Why Us?’ James Le Fanu offers a fascinating exploration of the power and limits of science to penetrate the deep mysteries of our existence, challenging the certainty that has persisted since Charles Darwin's Origin of Species that we are no more than the fortuitous consequence of a materialist evolutionary process. That challenge arises, unexpectedly, from the two major projects that promised to provide definitive proof for this most influential of scientific theories. The first is the astonishing achievement of the Human Genome Project, which, it was anticipated, would identify the genetic basis of those characteristics that distinguish humans from their primate cousins. The second is the phenomenal advance in brain imaging that now permits neuroscientists to observe the brain 'in action' and thus account for the remarkable properties of the human mind. But that is not how it has turned out. It is simply not possible to get from the monotonous sequence of genes along the Double Helix to the near infinite diversity of the living world, nor to translate the electrical firing of the brain into the creativity of the human mind. This is not a matter of not knowing all the facts. Rather, science has inadvertently discovered that its theories are insufficient to conjure the wonder of the human experience from the bare bones of our genes and brains. We stand on the brink of a tectonic shift in our understanding of ourselves that will witness the rediscovery of the central premise of Western philosophy that there is 'more than we can know'. Lucid, compelling and utterly engaging, ‘Why Us?’ offers a convincing and provocative vision of the new science of being human.
The Invisible Century
¥82.01
A book which offers fresh perspectives on the scientific developments of the past hundred years through the complementary work of two of the century’s greatest thinkers, Einstein and Freud. At the turn of the century there was a widespread assumption in scientific circles that the pursuit of knowledge was nearing its end and that all available evidence had been exhausted. However, by 1916 both Einstein and Freud had exploded the myth by leading exploration into the science of the invisible and the unconscious. These men were more than just contemporaries – their separate pursuits were in fact complementary. Freud’s science of psychoanalysis found its cosmological counterpart in the Astronomy of Invisible Light pioneered by Einstein. Together they questioned the little inconsistencies of Newton’s ordered cosmos to reveal a different reality, a natural order that was anything but ordered, a cosmos that was volatile and vast – an organism alive in time. These men inspired a fundamental shift in the history of human thought. They began a revolution that is still in progress and provided one of the past century’s greatest contributions to the history of science.
General Will in Political Philosophy
¥147.05
This book deals with the role and place of the general will in modern and contemporary political thought. This project is carried out at the crossroads of the history of ideas and political philosophy. It extensively develops historical and philosophical themes, showing modifications to the idea of the general will in the writings of thinkers who sometimes represent very distant epochs. The author tracks down the birth and the development of the idea of the general will in ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary times, devoting most of the book to the thoughts of Jean Jacques Rousseau and nineteenth and twentieth century British idealists.
Jaynes Legacy
¥107.81
Julian Jaynes' 1976 book, The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, continues to arouse an unsettling ambivalence. Richard Dawkins called it "e;either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius, nothing in between"e;. The present book suggests that the bicameral mind is a phantasm; the dating of the origin of consciousness contradicts archeological and literary evidence; and the theory contributes nothing toward explaining why some physical states are conscious while others are not because the nonconscious bicameral brain is neurophysiologically equivalent to the conscious brain.However, the author pays tribute to Jaynes's work as a work of "e;consummate genius"e; because it compels us to re-evaluate the significance of humankind's earliest traditions and texts that might shine light on the "e;very suspicious totem of evolutionary mythology"e; that consciousness has evolved continuously and gradually from worms to man.The present book suggests that the evolution of the relationship between consciousnesses, mass, energy, and spacetime radically changed nearly 6,000 years ago during the epigenetic, evolutionary degeneration of a little-known, threadlike structure originating from the center of the central nervous system called Reissner's fiber. The earliest Egyptian, Hebrew, Indian and Chinese traditions, buried beneath the dust of fallen Babel and thousands of years of distortions and disguisings, describe this process during the origin of religion and mystical traditions.